Economic recession, unemployment rate, high crime rate, drugs, alcohol abuse and many social ills has left our youth in despair and without hope for betterment to succeed in life. It is very rare in the countries current state to find a group of young individuals who dedicate their lives not for the limelight, being celebrated or for money but put their heart and souls into uplifting the youth for a better tomorrow.
When many are ignorant, persevering for their own success and while others are blaming the government for the deteriorating communities. In Bophelong Vanderbijlpark, a group of young brave, relentless, passionate, skillful and multi-talented men THE BLAH BLAH BROTHERS that operates in Extension 16 Hall in Muvhango, found purpose and committed themselves in steering the youth in a positive direction away from all social ills that are drastically negatively impacting our communities, through ushering innocent young boys and girls into a world of imagination, collaboration, problem solving, communication skills and the magic of arts, doing community outreaches in surrounding schools advising and engaging pupils on a variety of important social issues that they facing today.
We set down with one of the group members for a Q and A
Q: Who am I speaking to from Blah Blah Brothers Production, and if you could tell us the names of the others and what each one does?
You speaking to Mohale Potsane, my colleagues are Tumelo George Ntsala & Dingaan Khanye
• Potsane Mohale is a Director of the Company.
• Tumelo George Ntsala is our Writer and Music Director
• Dingaan Khanye is our Writer and trainer.
Q: When was Blah Blah Brothers Production established with what in mind?
Blah Blah Brothers Production was established in 2015 but registered in 2017 with the aim of promoting the culture of reading and writing and as the time went by, we saw it fit that we should also include a program that raises awareness of drug and substance abuse as a way of educating young people.
Q: What is the background of the members in terms of theatre and community-based work you guys do?
We are all self-taught art practitioners. But most of the experience we have, comes from working closely with people who are in the entertainment industry both in filming and theatre. Throughout the years we have been fortunate to collaborate with well know actors and producers, that on its own helped us a lot.
Q: Do you write, create and direct all your works yourselves or is there also collaboration with others, theatre groups etc.?
We write and direct our own work, the passion we have for different departments has helped us to share duties and bring balance in the company. We have collaborated with different groups but not in South Africa, the groups we’ve collaborated with are from Botswana and Lesotho, and I must say the journey we’ve had so far with those groups has been great, learning different cultures and heritage from each other.
Q: Are you guys working apart from this that you do, if not how do manage to sustain having resources, looking after kids who attend after school rehearsals you provide?
No, we are not working, we are doing art for a living. It’s not easy I must say but we are trying our level best. The only time we manage to make money is when we host an event or get booked outside the country. So, with the little that we get we try to push different programs like this one of drugs and substance abuse.
Q: What is the inspiration for the work you do, musicals, traditional theatre, comedy, drama, what gets the people excited about your shows, what do the kids want to participate in mostly?
Representing the voiceless is what inspires us. Most of the works we do and productions we perform represents the community and issues which affects them at the level ground, we give hope to a disadvantaged boy and a girl child that thinks their dreams do not matter. Being the voice for our people has been the greatest inspiration us. I think the style of theatre we use to tell our stories is the one that gets people excited to watch us. We have a different way of telling our stories and that has been our selling point. Most of the children we are working with love acting more than other activities, this is because of the passion they have for TV and fame, and they want to be famous. But slowly they are understanding the importance of portraying a character. It’s not about fame but about representing the people, since you’ll be addressing issues that affects them on daily basis.
Q: What can you tell the readers about some of your productions, the wonderful and important community awareness programme you run for the youth tsa Kasi?
We have had some great productions that have won us awards in the provincial level and also won us competitions against the best productions in South Africa. The relationships we have established in Lesotho, Botswana, Cameroon, Uganda and Swaziland is through the best productions we have created and developed on our own. Our community awareness program which focuses on substance abuse is us giving back to the community.
We have lived all our lives in Bophelong, from preschool until we finished high school. So, we saw a gap and we made it our responsibility to fill it. Most people who are affected by drugs in our community are our childhood friends, hence the desire to help is very high. So, through this program we are now able to inform youth about the free acting, dance & poetry training we have, and we are glad to see young people taking advantage of the program.
Q: I see how much investment you Brothers put into tackling drugs and alcohol, how bad is the problem, and too taking on such an important role, a very much needed intervention for the community, are you getting any assistance from business, NGO’s or government department like Social Development?
The drugs and alcohol abuse problem are a nationwide problem, so the situation is bad like any other communities I’ve went to in the Vaal. But what’s missing in our community is drug awareness campaigns. Lack of education and information on this topic is a huge blow to our community. Bophelong is one if not the most neglected communities in the Vaal.
We are not receiving any help from anyone my good sir. We are doing everything out of our pockets. Have asked for help many times throughout the years but we have never received it. Everything we have achieved is through our own hard work. We are doing all this with the hope that one day our hard will advocate for our children when we are no longer on this earth.
Q: You have an upcoming event, acting classes workshops, with Kagiso Modupe involved. How did that come about and what’s your relationship with him?
We were fortunate enough earlier this year to be part of the Netflix project that was shot by Bakwena Production in Bophelong. That’s where we had the opportunity to meet Mr. Kagiso, a very humbled guy in person. I managed to establish a good relationship between us during the shoot and ended up having his contact details. So, I have been telling him about the situation that’s happening in my community, how art is slowly dying and how young people lack passion. I then asked him to come the classes we are hosting and without hesitation he approved. The fact that I’m communicating with him it’s a dream come true for me. I never thought I’d be close to a person of such a Caliber.
Q: Will the workshop focus on certain age groups only, are all welcomed, do you intend to be doing such events on a regular basis?
Everyone is welcome to attend the classes, we are for the people, and we want them to access such opportunities as they don’t come every day. Acting classes program has been one of the biggest contributors to our growth. We have hosted different celebrities in previous years. This is not the first and definitely not the last Acting classes we will host.
Q: We recently just lost a stalwart in the industry, Mme Connie Chuime, what are the brother’s thoughts or sentiments on her passing and the career she had?
Mme Connie Chuime was a great inspiration to many, young and old alike, it’ll be a terrible thing not to say we were and still are very inspired by Mme Connie’s work, we once worked with his son in SAACYF, running a branch of SAACYF in Vaal. We hoped that one day through his son, we could meet and exchange in a formal conversation and gain some insight from our industry giant being Mme Connie Chuime. We send our heartfelt condolences to the family, friends and colleagues. Indeed, our industry will never be the same without you. Goodnight Mama may your legacy live forever, you’ve done your best till here, from here we shall take over and continue Arting. WAKANDA FOREVER.,
1 Comment
I am impressed with what these young guys are doing for the community of Bophelong. Both the Departments of Health and Social Development have youth development programs similar to yours. It would, perhaps, be mutually beneficial if you could link with them, especially to fund some of your activities and collaboration. This will give you access to extensive networks with the stakeholders that are currently supporting government programs.
Joe Mosuhli.
Retired Professional at FS Provincial Government.